20 years of restarting life

Chapter 4037 The Phenomenon of Hit Books
Zhao Chang'an fell into deep thought. Since the BlackBerry store on Bay Street moved here at the beginning of the year, it has been operating normally, selling Pager 950, BlackBerry 5810, and PAD with keyboard, and is also responsible for activating Push Mail email service for users who need it.

The original BlackBerry store in Toronto, located in a somewhat remote area, was transformed into a product repair center and a Push Mail email service activation point for the company.

Because the Bay Street store is the company's most important flagship store in North America, they had plenty of stock of 950, 5810, and PAD beforehand, and it was common for people to queue up and enter the store in batches to buy 5810.

This is why queuing up early last night didn't raise any alarm among Qi Xidong and his group.

Of the many people gathered here, it's not fair to say that 100% of them are here to buy the 6230. Some may be looking to purchase other products or simply come to join the fun and watch the performance. However, at least a large majority (70-80%) are definitely here for the 6230+.

Based on this calculation, there are more than 20,000 people, or even more, who want to buy 6230+.

First, there are tens of thousands of people outside. Even if all 5000 mobile phones were sold today, it would only meet the purchasing needs of a small portion of the customers.

How to appease the emotions of the remaining tens of thousands of people is a very troublesome problem.

Secondly, even if you call in employees working in two shifts, from 9:30 in the morning to 9:30 in the evening, because purchasing a machine requires turning it on for inspection, introducing its functions and pricing, registering a Push Mail member, providing basic instruction on how to use Push Mail email, and answering various customer questions, it basically takes a salesperson more than ten minutes to close one deal.

Customers are impatient while queuing, hoping that those in front of them won't waste their time and that they can buy the phone quickly. But when it's their turn, especially with the many new design elements and features of the 6230+, such as how to add group files to Push Mail and how to send one-on-one emails, they are eager to understand them before reluctantly paying and leaving.

One customer can only be allowed in after one customer leaves.

In addition, there's the time spent taking turns eating lunch, going to the toilet, and other fragmented moments.

In this way, even with 22 salespeople, the fastest they can ship out is no more than 110 units per hour.

From 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., a period of twelve hours, it is estimated that even with the most extreme operations, only 1300 phones can be produced.

This is why Qi Xidong and Mike only put 5000 copies of 6230 here before. In their previous understanding, these 5000 copies were at least a week's worth of sales.

In addition to this flagship store, there are also resellers in Toronto that partner with supermarkets and shopping malls, which can distribute a lot of customers.

"Although we expected a lot of people to come today for the launch of the 6230+, we still have 300 square meters of sales space. With two shifts and eleven sales staff per shift, it should be enough. If it doesn't work, we can stay here with security guards, receptionists, and consultants. Besides, we have 5000 6230+ units in stock. No matter how we sell them, it will take a week to clear them all."

Seeing that everyone was silent, Qi Xidong had no choice but to explain with a red face: "Moreover, in Toronto, we have also cooperated with several supermarkets and opened five sales counters in the city, one of which is on King Street, with 800 units of 6230+ in stock."

Zhao Chang'an came from the east side of King Street and did not find any large crowds queuing along the way. The sales counter that Qi Xidong mentioned should be on the west side.

Just then, Qi Xidong's phone rang. "It's a call from the Gotham City store."

He answered the phone with a slightly distorted expression and a heart pounding. The sudden call at this moment, combined with the fact that Gotham City's population and economy are much more developed than Toronto's, and that it was the site of the incident last September, meant that the number of people involved was probably even greater than here.

"The situation here is similar to yours, only perhaps a little less severe. Contact the local police immediately and request assistance in maintaining order."

Seeing Zhao Chang'an reach out to him, he blushed and handed him his phone.

“I am Zhao Chang’an. You can take notes of what I’m saying.”

Zhao Chang'an didn't ask about the specific situation there, because he could already guess it by comparing it with what was here. There was no need to waste time and breath repeating himself. Instead, he instructed the store manager there to take notes on the key points.

Once the person in charge there said they had brought pens and paper, Zhao Chang'an said, "First, require all employees working in two shifts to immediately start full-time work. Their wages will be calculated according to their labor contracts, with double pay for overtime and triple pay for any hours worked beyond that. Second, request the local police to help maintain order, and also invite some volunteers. Buy them matching red vests and hats; other items are also acceptable, but they must be uniform. Privately promise these volunteers a 30% discount on purchasing an aircraft, but not for that day, but for three days later."

"Third, inform customers that the store has a daily limit on the number of customers they can serve to purchase a phone, and ask for their understanding. Urgently produce a batch of digital cards with certain anti-counterfeiting features and distribute them in queues, based on the final number distributed and the store's maximum daily capacity. Announce to the public that these digital cards will be eligible to purchase a phone for the next few days, and during these days, sales will no longer be offered to customers without digital card eligibility. Normal service will resume after the number of days has expired."

The store manager next to him quickly grabbed a pen and paper and started taking notes.

Without being prompted by either of them, Qi Xidong's secretary and Mike's secretary immediately took out their notebooks to take notes.

"Fourth, ensure safety to prevent stampedes and fainting incidents caused by overcrowding. Ask volunteers to help distribute Coca-Cola and other items as needed. Fifth, inform customers of the locations of other resellers in the city to divert crowds. Sixth, move the online live performance from 10:00 AM to 9:25 AM, ensure live streaming, and turn on the projector before 9:00 AM to broadcast the footage from Toronto Bay Street."

Zhao Chang'an talked for a long time before finally mentioning the most important part of today: how to screen customers who come to the store to buy machines, which is also the most difficult problem at present.

"Lastly, immediately take out all the raffle tickets from the raffle boxes in the store. The raffle is suspended today. Tell all customers outside that the raffle will restart the day after the digital card purchase qualification expires. The boxes will contain two colors of glass balls in a 10:1 or other ratio. Each person in line will draw one ball at a time to win the qualification to purchase a phone today. Those who do not win the qualification to purchase a phone today can receive a digital qualification card. As for the opening time, it does not have to be 9:30, but you must explain the situation properly."

After saying all that in one breath, Zhao Chang'an told the manager of the Gotham City BlackBerry store on the phone, "That's all for now. You can give us feedback if you have any good ideas, and we'll implement them."

He then said to the store manager next to him who was taking notes, "You go down and carry out the instructions. Start the live stream at nine o'clock, and I'll go on stage and sing first at twenty-five."

"If we do that, the factory will have to work three shifts to barely increase production to 3000 units per day. It's very likely that just the specialty stores in Toronto and Gotham City will consume the production for the next ten days."

Mike said worriedly, "That means that for the next ten days, we will cut off supplies to the remaining seven specialty stores and 178 supermarket sales outlets."

(End of this chapter)